Buzz

Pittsburgh's restaurant scene is attracting ambitious young chefs intent on creating the next big food town, according to a recent article in Highbrow Magazine.

In "How Pittsburgh Became a Dining Destination," Pittsburgh native Beth Kaiserman details the evolution of Pittsburgh cuisine from smothered under French fries to full-blown foodie playground, thanks to an annual Restaurant Week and inventive hot spots in the Cultural District and beyond.

Canadian journalist Adam Radwanski traveled to revitalized Rust Belt cities in the United States, and found Pittsburgh to be the gold standard of urban renewal in America's industrial heartland.

In The Globe and Mail, Radwanski writes of Pittsburgh: "Scarcely anybody there denies that its economic reinvention in advanced manufacturing, life-sciences and information technology – which have seen a host of start-up successes – has something to do with becoming a place young professionals want to be."

Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay was recently interviewed by Katie Couric for Yahoo Global News about the fallout for his recent controversial #EndWhiteSilence photograph that went viral.

In the Yahoo interview, McLay states that in hindsight he would still choose to hold the sign for the photo.

When asked about the sign he was photographed holding and the ensuing fallout, he responded, “I consider it a blessing and an opportunity … the issues of race and policing and the relationship between police and our communities of color is an issue on the national forefront.”

When it comes to city pride, Pittsburgh residents rank No. 2 nationally, according to real estate blog Movoto.

The blog recently published a list of the top 10 U.S. cities with a healthy dose of self-regard, and Pittsburgh finished at a strong second, right after Tulsa, Okla.

“Pittsburgh is home to a lot of firsts: first polio vaccine, first Ferris wheel, first commercial radio station, first public television station, first Ice Capades show, and first Big Mac,” writes Movoto content creator Andy Eddy.

Wallethub.com recently released their rankings of 2014’s best and worst cities for an active lifestyle. The rankings were based on two basic criteria: Sports Facilities & Outdoor Recreation and Budget & Participation.

While Pittsburgh came in No. 1 for Sports Facilities & Outdoor Recreation, we’re lagging behind on Budget & Participation, with a ranking of No. 26 in that category. But Pittsburgh also made it into the top five of secondary criteria, including highest number of swimming pools per capita and lowest average cost of playing golf.

If you're the mastermind behind a brilliant tech startup, Silicon Valley's not the only place to set up shop. Pittsburgh offers a viable alternative and a model for tech magnetism, offers The Atlantic magazine.

In his article "How to Create a Tech Startup if You're Not in Silicon Valley," The Atlantic's John Tierney explains that Pittsburgh's startups share oxygen with internationally known tech companies like Google and Disney Research that have a sizable presence here.

"Pittsburgh has one of the liveliest tech ecosystems in the country," Tierney writes. "It's a tech mecca, along with places like Silicon Valley, Boston/Cambridge, Seattle, and Austin."

Pittsburgh earned salutatorian placement on Forbes magazine’s list of the smartest cities in the United States.

Coming in second after the Boston-Cambridge-Newton area, Pittsburgh logged the largest percentage point increase since 2000 in the proportion of its population that is college-educated. The Steel City climbed 8.8 points to 32.2 percent, on the strength of 37.3% growth in raw numbers.

In the latest installment of its American Futures series, The Atlantic magazine digs into Pittsburgh’s recent past, particularly the role of an organization created three decades ago – the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

In the article “How the arts drove Pittsburgh’s revitalization,” reporter John Tierney explains that Pittsburgh’s turnaround efforts are widely regarded for its sensible, clearheaded approach based on preservation.

Tierney writes:

“In looking at Pittsburgh’s impressive revival, it’s important to take note of the key role played over the last 30 years by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, an organization that has managed one of the city’s most vivid transformations, turning a large part of downtown that had been overtaken by porn shops, strip clubs, massage parlors and sleazy bars into a lively, safe and attractive district for cultural arts and entertainment.”

The restoration of Mellon Square recently landed at the top of Huffington Post’s national list of notable landscape architecture developments of 2014.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation President Charles Birnbaum writes “modernism got a big boost” due to the efforts of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and the City of Pittsburgh to bring the iconic Downtown park back to its original splendor.

The first park built over a parking garage, Mellon Park was conceived as an oasis, a gathering space amid dense corporate buildings, Birnbaum explains.

Duquesne University recently received the nation’s highest federal recognition for universities that strengthen communities in two areas: General Community Service and Education. Thanks to the 280,000 hours of community service amassed by Duquesne Students during the 2012-13 school year, the college made The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

Duquesne was the only Pittsburgh institution honored for General Community Service with Distinction, the second-highest recognition presented by the federal Corporation for National and Community Service. This marks the fifth consecutive year that Duquesne has achieved the prestigious ranking for efforts to improve the lives of community residents, particularly low-income individuals.

During a month-long stay on Pittsburgh’s shores in November, the BBC Popup team asked residents what it means to hail from the Three Rivers.

In the video “Life in Pittsburgh: Secrets from the Steel City,” a colorful parking attendant in the Strip District explains the essence of the city over a montage of Primanti’s sandwiches and Penn Avenue street vendors.

“It’s the people,” he says. “The people make Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh welcomes people from all over the world.”